Circuit-breaker connection for electric-railway systems.



P. E. CASE.

CIRCUIT BREAKER CONNECTION FOB. ELECTRIC. RAILWAY SYSTEMS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 2, 1910.

Patented Jan. 6, 1914.

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UNITED STATES PATENT QI FIQE.

FRANK E. CASE, OF SCI-IENECTADY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO GENERAL ELECTRICCOMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

CIRCUIT-BREAKER CONNECTION FOR ELECTRIC-RAILWAY SYSTEMS.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 6, 1914:.

Application filed November 2, 1910. Serial No. 590,257.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, FRANK E. CASE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Schenectady, county of Schenectady, State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Circuit-BreakerConnections for Electric-Railway Systems, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to electric railway systems and has for itsobject the provision of means whereby objectionable arcing is avoided ina simple manner.

In the operation of third rail or" trolley railways, a car frequentlypasses out of a live section with the power on, so as to cause an are atthe collector. Very often a car must pass from a section having onevoltage to one having a different voltage, so that under some conditionsthe arcing which would be incident to the breaking of the circuit at theend of a section is liable to cause damage and be otherwiseobjectionable.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide means whereby when acar passes from one section to another, the circuit will be opened at acircuit breaker instead of at the trolley or collect-or.

I also provide means whereby the circuit breaker will be automaticallyclosed as the car proceeds so as to be in readiness for the next passingcar.

In the accompanying drawing I have shown my invention in a somewhatdiagrammatic way for purposes of illustration. In this case I have showna trolley system of 1,200 volts and an intermediate 600 volt sectionthrough which the car must pass. This 600 volt section may be a shortsection such as would occur for instance at a crossing, although, ofcourse, the length of the sections is practically immaterial to myinvention. In order to prevent arcing as the car passes out of the 1,200volt section A, I provide a short or auxiliary section of trolley B andan automatic circuit breaker C connected between the live section A andthe section B. The sections A and B overlap so as to be electricallyconnected by the collector, as for instance, the trolley roller or thirdrail shoe. The trip coil D of the circuit breaker is connected in serieswith the circuit breaker contacts E between section' A and section B. Ihave shown a standard automatic circuit breaker which will be opened atthe contacts E when the trip coil D is sufliciently energized. The coilD may of course be arranged to trip the circuit breaker at anypredetermined How of current. Between the 600 volt section F and 1,200volt section G is provided a second short section of trolley I-Ioverlapping the section G. The circuit breaker has an operating coil Ifor closing the breaker. This coil I has one terminal connected toground, while the other terminal is connected with section H. 7

Assuming the car to be going in the direction of the arrow, theoperation of the device will be as follows: When the collector J bridgessections A and B of the trolley, a shunt circuit will be establishedaround the joint K through the trip coil D and contacts E so that whenthe collector leaves section A, the circuit will not be broken at thetrolley. As soon as the collector leaves section A, the trip coil andcontacts are in series with the trolley circuit. If the current taken bythe car motors is sufficiently large to warrant the opening of thecircuit at the circuit breaker instead of at the trolley, the trip coilD will operate to open the circuit breaker at contacts E. The point atwhich the circuit breaker will open may of course be adjusted asdesired. The circuit now being open, the car passes into 600 voltsection F and thence on to the dead section II. When the sections G andH are bridged by the collector the coil I will be energized from the1,200 volt section through the coil to ground. The energizing of coil Icloses the circuit breaker so that it will be in readiness for the nextpassing car.

It is obvious, of course, that my invention may be applied to either athird rail or trolley system and that it is not limited to the voltagesor the particular type of system shown and described.

While I have shown my invention as embodied in concrete form forpurposes of illustration, it should be understood that I do not limit myinvention thereto, since various modifications thereof will suggestthemselves to those skilled in the art without departing from the spiritof my invention, the scope of which is set forth in the annexed claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is

1. In an electric railway system, in combination, trolley sections oflike voltage having a trolley section of different voltage be tweenthem, auxiliary trolley sections between adjacent ends of said sections,an automatic circuit breaker connected between one of the main sectionsand an auxiliary section and an operating coil for closing the circuitbreaker connected from the next succeeding auxiliary section to ground.

2; In an electric railway system, in combination, trolley sections oflike voltage having a trolley section of difl'erent voltage betweenthem, auxiliary trolley sections be tween said sections and overlappingthe sections of like voltage so as to be electrically connected theretoby the collector of a passing car, an automatic circuit breakerconnected between one pair of overlapping sections, and an operatingcoil for closing the circuit breaker connecting the next succeedingauxiliary section to ground.

3. In an electric railway system, in combination, two trolley sectionsof like voltage having an intermediate trolley section of differentvoltage between them, auxiliary trolley sections between adjacent endsof said sections, an automatic circuit breaker connected between one ofsaid two main sections and the adjacent auxiliary section, andelectromagnetic means energized through the other auxiliary section toclose the circuit breaker after a car has passed through saidintermediate section.

4:- In an electric railway system, in combination, a trolleyclividedinto main trolley sections, auxiliary sections between said mainsections each arranged to be connected with an adjacent main section bya passing car, an automatic circuit breaker having its trip coilconnected in series with its con tacts between adjacent sections, and anoperating coil for closing said circuit breaker connected with asucceeding auxiliary section.

5. In an electric railway system, in combination, a trolley divided intomain trolley sections auxiliary trolley sections between said mainsections each arranged to be con- In witness whereof, I have hereuntoset my hand this 31st day of October, 1910.

FRANK E. CASE. Witnesses:

HELEN Onronn, BENJAMIN B. HULL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

